


i can and i will

by AlmondRose



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Gen, Insecurity, a lil anxiety i guess??, angst m aybe?, there could be cassiekara interpreted in this if you try really hard and look at one (1) emoji
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-11-03 19:59:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10974318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlmondRose/pseuds/AlmondRose
Summary: Stephanie Brown is Robin. Nobody believes her.





	i can and i will

Stephanie Brown is Robin and Superboy descends from the sky, looking around and she smirks.

“Looking for someone?” she asks, leaning against a building, and Superboy whirls around to face her.

“Who’re you?” he asks, demands.

“I’m Robin,” she says, throwing her arms out wide. “Can’t you tell from my traffic light colored attire?”

“No you aren’t,” he says, and his blatant dismissal _hurts._ “You aren’t--the _real_ Robin.” Steph crosses her arms.

“Uh, yeah I am,” she says. Tries to convince herself. He looks her over and scoffs. Steph flushes. She knows she’s shorter than Tim, even though she’s older, and she knows she doesn’t look like much.

“No you aren’t,” he says. “Now, can you tell me where the _real_ Robin is?”

“I don’t know,” Steph says, defiant. “Ask Batman.” Superboy visibly blanches and Steph feels too petty.

“Ask Batman _what?”_ a voice says from the shadows behind Steph, and she _doesn’t_ flinch, but Superboy does. Steph smiles, victorious.

“Uhh,” Superboy says, and he looks _terrified._ Wimp, Steph thinks.

“No metas in Gotham,” Batman says coldly. “Come on, Robin.” Superboy looks like a club’s been hit over his head and Steph sticks her tongue out. Batman grapples away and Steph follows.

“You’ll never be the real Robin!” Superboy calls from behind her. “Don’t even _try_ and join the Titans!”

Batman stops on a distant rooftop and waits for her.

Steph feels oddly nervous. Maybe she should’ve handled that differently?

“Robin,” Batman says as soon as she lands next to him. “I...want you to know that you aren’t Tim’s replacement.”

“Oh,” Steph says.

“I mean,” Batman hurries to explain. “That you aren’t just here to be Tim’s replacement. You’re here because you earned it.”

“Oh,” Steph says again. “Thanks?”

“Let’s get back to patrol,” Batman says, gruffly, and Steph tries to smile and follow after him.

\----

Steph’s still Robin but she screwed up. She didn’t listen to Batman, but she saved his life, and he’s benched her.

Fear twists in her gut and she doesn’t really think that anyone knows she has anxiety, because usually she can hide it.

It’s harder to hide it when she’s sitting alone on her bed, her comm in her ear, waiting for Batman to call her.

She presses down the fear that she’s not good enough. She pushes it down and masks it with her confidence that she’s earned it. She deserves to be Robin. The scariest day of her life was when she broke into the Batcave to tell him she was Robin now. But it weirdly worked, and now Steph’s sure sure sure she _deserves_ it. She’s just not sure if she’s _enough_ for it.

\---

Bruce calls her back to the cave and Steph balls up her fists. She just knows that he’s gonna fire her. She knows it.

But if Bruce thinks she’s gonna go down without a fight, he’s got another thing coming.

\---

He sits her down and tells her she needs to listen to him, and that she _promised,_ and she interrupts and tells him that she can _remember_ times Tim didn’t listen and was never fired, and she _knows_ Dick and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (Jason) didn’t listen to Bruce every time, and it’s _sexist_ to do any different, and that Batman isn’t sexist, is he?

Bruce blinks at her.

“I was _going_ to take you off of probation,” he says blandly. “But after that little incident you’re still on. That’s all.”

“Oh,” Steph says, and she sags. “Oops.”

“I admire your spunk, though,” he says, and do people even _say_ “spunk” anymore?

“Thanks?” she says, and he stands up, pulling his cowl on over his head.

“Suit up, Robin,” he says. “Time to go.”

She jumps to her feet and the knot in her stomach lessens. _She’s still Robin._

\---

 _“Don’t even try,”_ Superboy had said. Steph’s _sick_ of people telling her what to do.

She’s an anxiety ridden mess, but she’s also impulsive and ready to prove herself and angry at everyone who tells her she’s not good enough. She does enough of that to herself, thanks.

 

So she breaks into Titan’s Tower and leans back on the couch, puts her feet up on the coffee table. Robin picks up a remote and turns on the TV, watching something on the food network.

She hears the others arrive and grins.

“Who left the TV on,” a girl’s voice--Cassie?--says irritably.

“I dunno but itwasn’tmeI’llgocheck--” and there’s a wooshing sound and Impulse is staring at her. Steph turns to face him and shoots him some fingerguns.

“Hey,” she says. “How ya doin?” Impulse stares at her.

“Bart, who is it--oh,” Wonder Girl says, coming into the room. “Um.”

“Hey there,” Robin says, grinning. “I thought it was about time this team had a Robin again.”

\----

Their whole meeting thing goes okay, Robin thinks. Not terrible, not great. The Titans seem awkward, but they were super close with Tim, weren’t they?

Robin feels suddenly awkward as she leaves--maybe trying to prove Superboy wrong wasn’t the best decision.

She stands by the doors and wonders what she’s gonna tell Batman.

“Hey! Robin!” a voice calls and she turns. Wonder Girl runs over to her. “I’m sorry if that was super awkward. It just--we didn’t even know that Ti-- _he_ had been--”

“Replaced?”

“I mean, yeah,” Wonder Girl says, awkwardly. “We would’ve invited you here sooner.”

“It’s fine,” Robin dismisses. “I probably overstepped.”

“I just--I don’t want you to feel unwelcome here,” Wonder Girl says. “You can come back anytime.”

“I appreciate that,” Robin says. “I really--” She cuts off as the door opens and Superboy walks in. He freezes, and so does she.

“What’re _you_ doing here?” he asks, and Steph blanches.

“GottagothanksWonderGirlbye!” she says in a rush and runs out the door, pushing past Superboy and bolting for her bike.

\---

 

Steph arrives back in Gotham and feels sorry for bolting. He’d caught her off guard. Next time she’d tell him off, she promises herself.

She drives back to Wayne Manor and the Batcave, and it’s dark by the time she arrives. She parks her bike and changes her clothes, then she trudges upstairs.

She’s been staying at Wayne Manor sometimes, and tonight Bruce is already gone on patrol, so Alfred’s upstairs, and Steph’s too tired to do anything tonight. She crashes in the first guest room, which is the one she usually uses, and she texts Alfred before she falls asleep to let him know she’s there.

\---

Steph wakes up the next morning when Bruce knocks on her door.

“Uh,” he says. “There are. People. Here to see you.”

“Me?” Steph says, sitting up, instantly awake. “Here?”

Bruce nods and Steph runs past him and down the stairs. She pauses when she sees the people Alfred’s entertaining near the door.

“Uhh,” Steph says. Cassie and Superboy--Kon--are standing there in their civies. “Hi?”

Cassie elbows Kon and he steps forward.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles.

“Uhhh,” Steph says again. “You...didn’t have to apologize?”

“Yeah he did,” Cassie says, crossing her arms. “He was an asshole.”

“Well, yeah,” Steph says, recovering. “But I mean, I might be too if my boyfriend was replaced with some random girl unexpectedly.”

“My--what?” Kon sputters. Cassie laughs, and Steph grins. Maybe she can work with this.

\---

Steph can see Cass smile from under her mask whenever she calls her “Robin”.

Dick Grayson shows up and ruffles her hair and tells Steph to patrol with him, and at the end he hugs her and whispers in her ear, “You make a good Robin, little bird,” and she almost cries but contents herself with squeezing him tighter.

\---

It’s been a long, long, night, and they get back at an ungodly hour of the morning, one of those hours where the sun’s peeking over the horizon, and Robin doesn’t think Batman’s slept in a couple of days, and she feels like she hasn’t slept in _forever._

Batman parks in the cave and Robin goes to change, pulling off her costume ever-so-slowly and _melting_ under the hot water of the shower.

She’s worried about a million things but right now she just wants sleep, and as soon as she puts on a tank top and sweatpants she drops to the cave floor. It’s kinda comfy, in a way, Steph thinks, before someone picks her up and Bruce carries her upstairs. He drops her in a bed--she thinks it might be Bruce’s--and he lays next to her.

Steph’s phone in her pocket buzzes--she checks it.

Cassie <3: _u up for pizza night on fri?_

She types back a quick reply-- _You know it!_ \--before dropping her phone on the nightstand and curling up.

“Good job tonight, Robin,” Bruce says. He sounds half-asleep. There's a long beat before he says, "You're off probation." 

Steph smiles into her pillow.

“I really did it,” she whispers, feeling like she could fly. 

“Yes,” Bruce says. “You did.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!! comments/kudos are always welcome!


End file.
